FRIDAY 26
Robot Chicken
Marking the end of the special exhibit Between Frames: The Magic Behind Stop Motion Animation, the comedic geniuses behind the hit Adult Swim TV show Robot Chicken — Stoopid Buddy Stoodios — are coming to the city this weekend for several special events celebrating their craft. Join Seth Green, Matthew Senreich, John Harvatine IV, Eric Towner, and Alex Kamer on Friday night for an after-hours museum party featuring food, drinks, an audience Q&A, and screenings of behind-the-scenes footage. Then on Saturday there’s a special animation workshop followed by a panel discussion taking a closer look at the hilarious TV show. (Sean McCourt)
Fri/26, 7pm; Sat/27, 10am and 2pm, $8–$60
Walt Disney Family Museum
104 Montgomery, SF
(415) 345-6800
San Francisco Global Vietnamese Film Festival
A three-day celebration of films from Vietnam (as well as Cambodia, Canada, France, Japan, the Czech Republic, and the United States), the San Francisco Global Vietnamese Film Festival offers up both narratives and documentaries, as well as experimental works. Highlights include screenings of Oscar nominee Tran Angh Hung’s dreamy 2010 adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s novel Norwegian Wood — as well as Duc Nguyen’s brand-new doc about Vietnamese refugees, Stateless, and a shorts program comprised of Yxine Film Festival standouts. (Cheryl Eddy)
Opening gala tonight, 7:30pm, $10
Artists’ Television Access
992 Valencia, SF
Festival screenings Sat/27-Sun/28, 2:30pm-midnight, $10
Roxie Theater
3117 16th St., SF
“SF Choral Society and Volti present battle hymns”
Making Love may be a more common theme for dance than Making War. This did not stop Philadelphia-based choreographer Leah Stein, whose small company dances big and not just on stage, and collaborating composer David Lang. Stein has created a reputation for site-specific, improv-inspired choreography combined with an uncommonly sophisticated musicality. Lang based his choral work, Battle Hymn, on texts from the Civil War. Together they have created a meditation on a topic that, unfortunately, is as timely a ever. Stein’s dancers and 150 singers — including SF music group Volti, San Francisco Choral Society vocalists, and the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir — will perform along with the percussion score conducted by Robert Geary. (Rita Felciano)
Fri/26, 8pm; Sat/27, 3 and 8pm; Sun/28, 3pm, $30–$50
Kezar Pavilion
755 Stanyon, SF
(415) 392-4400
SATURDAY 27
“Fortuna Paper Moon”
In art, process can be everything. In the case of Jovi Schnell, the colorful and lively works that seem to borrow from folk art, celestial imagery, and mechanical ideas speak for themselves, but the story of their creation embeds them with particular meaning — or rather, an intriguing lack of meaning. In paintings such as Honeycomb Hideaway, repeated rolling of dice determined the order of colors and the pattern that comprises the piece (which is no pattern at all). Schnell has invented a language in paint, collage, and sculpture that is whimsical, energetic, and overall, fascinating. The “Fortuna Paper Moon” exhibition is on view at Gregory Lind Gallery until June 1. (Laura Kerry)
Through June 1
4pm, free
Gregory Lind Gallery
49 Geary, SF
(415) 296-9661
Queen’s Day
You love excessive drinking in the street and the color orange, right? (Don’t lie SF, I’ve seen many a fake tan Bay to Breakdown.) A celebration for the Queen of the Netherlands’ birthday in SF goes down in the park this year and will feature Dutch cheese and DJs, a beer garden, and family activities, sponsored by the Consulate General of the Netherlands. Head up the road to the de Young afterward for even more Dutch madness: more DJs and a 7pm lecture on the country’s royal family that you won’t remember the next day if you’re celebrating in the traditional manner. (Caitlin Donohue)
Noon-5pm, free
Murphy Windmill
Lincoln Way and Great Highway, Golden Gate Park, SF
“Night Light: Multimedia Garden Party”
Disco dancing about diasporas, an opera in shadow, moving crystals, nude hula hooping, a slowed down wave, and a technological cocoon: these are not club names mentioned by Stefon in Saturday Night Live, but some of the art pieces that will be on display at SOMArts’ Multimedia Garden Party. With more than 50 artists displaying their music, dance, video installations, sculptures, and art in various other mediums, the night promises to be overwhelmingly spectacular. While art is often confined to the quiet and clean spaces of museums and galleries, tonight it participates in a party. SOMArts offers a chance to participate with it. (Kerry)
8pm, $12
SOMArts
934 Brannan, SF
(415) 863-1414
Men in Suits
Long before computer graphics became all the rage in Hollywood, a special breed of actors and special effects magicians worked together to bring a vast array of wild monsters, creatures, beasts and more to life on the big screen, entertaining (and scaring) generations of movie-goers. Take a look back at that golden age of film making tonight at a screening of Men In Suits, a new documentary about the people who played monsters in the movies, ranging from the Creature From The Black Lagoon to Predator. Writer-director Frank Woodward will be on hand for a discussion, along with special displays, prizes, and a second flick, 1955’s Revenge of the Creature. (McCourt)
7pm, $12–$15
Historic Bal Theater
14808 East 14th St., San Leandro
SUNDAY 28
How Weird
Do we love New Orleans so because it reflects a more diverse, wilder, woolier, earlier version of our fair city? Play out your Nola dreams with lunch at the gorgeous SF Jazz Center’s Big Easy-inspired restaurant South, and then head to the 14th year of the How Weird street fair in your best freak flag. Per usual, a sizable portion of SoMa will be blocked off and filled with wacky vendors, art, and 10 stages of music — mainly EDM, but with this year’s “Weirdi Gras” theme, five marching bands will be strutting the streets to syncopate your Sunday. (Donohue)
Noon-8pm, $10 suggested donation
Howard and Second St., SF
SUNDAY 28
Cave Singers
At first listen, the Cave Singers’ music inhabits a place directly related to rotting porches on the edges of mountainous forests. They play folk. Spend a little more time with them, though, and it starts to make sense that their favorite bands are the Replacements, the Pixies, and Fleetwood Mac. Pete Quirk’s singing, a bit raspy and raw, recalls other genres that typically involve more yelping and distortion (he was previously a part of a Seattle post-punk band); the compositions have a little too much edge to be played from a porch in the mountains. Yes, it’s folk that they’ll play at Great American Music Hall, but it’s the Cave Singers’ version of it. (Kerry)
With Bleeding Rainbow
8pm, $16
Great American Music Hall
859 O’Farrell, SF
(415) 885-0750
Marnie Stern
On the cover of Marnie Stern’s new album, Chronicles of Marnia, the artist walks on the beach in a summer dress, silhouetted by a setting sun. This would suggest that inside, one would find some sweet, vulnerable melodies in a singer-songwriter style. And that is not completely wrong — her soul-bearing songwriting comes up in some very positive reviews of her four albums — but what Stern does particularly well, is shred on the electric guitar; her finger tapping post-punk experimental rock sound earned her a spot on many greatest guitarist lists. Stern is the real deal, and you can see her bear shred (and bear her soul) at the Rickshaw Stop tonight. (Kerry)
With SISU, E V Kain
8pm, $12
Rickshaw Stop
155 Fell, SF
(415) 861-2011
MONDAY 29
La Mar Cebicheria pisco dinner
Sure, when Peru’s Gaston Acurio opened up his first US restaurant here on our waterfront we knew we weren’t going to be regulars — that sustainable seafood doesn’t come cheap, babe. That being said, there’s something about shellfooding out on a special occasion. So we wanted to let you know about this: a four-course dinner, each course paired with a dram of pisco, or a cocktail based off that Peruvian liquor that’s been beloved in SF since the days of the Gold Rush. Before the heavy plates come in, check out the 6pm pisco seminar taught by Manuel Ainzuain, Alfonso Rouillon, and La Mar bar manager Joselino Solis. (Donohue)
Reservations required
Open 5:30-9:30pm, $75/person
La Mar Cebichería Peruana
Pier 1½, SF
(415) 397-8880
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